Former Brumbies halfback Matt Henjak is being sent home in disgrace from the Wallabies tour after throwing his drink in a Cape Towm nightclub.
Fox Sports is reporting Henjak was out with Lote Tuqiri, Wendell Sailor and Matt Dunning on the Thursday night before the Wallabies’ Saturday Test against the Springboks.
A disciplinary commitee hearing found Henjak guilty of “breaching team standards when he threw the ice from his drink and generally caused a disturbance last Wednesday night at the Pulse nightclub in Cape Town”. As well as being sent home, Henjak received a two-year, two-match suspended sentence and a $500 fine. His drinking mates received $500 fines each for being out too late (although team manager Phil Thomson admits there is no curfew on the team).
This is only the second time a Wallaby has been sent home from an overseas tour, the previous incident being in 1967 when Ross Cullen, a Brisbane player, was sent home after admitting to biting an opponents ear.
[UPDATE: Nine News is reporting that it was actually a fight with Lote Tuqiri that lead to the send home. From RugbyHeaven:
Wallabies manager Phil Thomson denied reports Henjak had thrown his drink over Tuqiri and that this had prompted the Test winger to attempt to strangle him
…
“Lote Tuqiri did see Matt Henjak throw the contents of his drink,” Thomson said on Tuesday. “Lote went over to Matt and told him to pull his head in because he was acting like a goose at the time.
“They had a disagreement over that fact and were involved in a verbal altercation because Matt was getting aggressive. Wendell Sailor had then seen what had happened there. He went over and defused the situation. He then took Matt outside to calm him down.”
Planet-Rugby have even more:
Thomson said it was effectively the last straw for Henjak, who had a track record of doing the wrong thing in public with his provincial side, the ACT Brumbies.
“Matt does have a prior history of some incidents in public places and those were also taken into account when the decision was made to send him home,” said Thomson.]
Henjak is being very sportsmanlike about the whole thing, saying “I was just being a little silly. I’d had a few drinks and was acting inappropriately as a Wallaby and I put the team under more pressure than they needed to be. I let the team down. I realise that and I’ve got to win their trust back.”
It has been suggested that we might be able to disown him and attribute his bad behaviour to Perth.
In other news, Brumbies captain Stirling Mortlock was also investigated for inappropriate behaviour after a website reported he had been in an “incident” in a Stellenbosch bar, but this was found to be untrue.
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